The multilayered film of a spin valve tunnel magnetoresistive element or giant magnetoresistive element is formed by a sputtering method, as described in PTL1. In deposition of a magnetic layer, uni-axial magnetic anisotropy must be imparted to align the magnetization direction of the magnetic layer.
As a method of imparting uni-axial magnetic anisotropy to the magnetic layer, for example, the magnetic layer generally undergoes sputter deposition while being applied with a magnetic field which is parallel to a substrate surface and is aligned in one direction, as described in PTL2. The magnetic anisotropy imparted by applying an external magnetic field is called induced magnetic anisotropy.
On the other hand, as a method of imparting magnetic anisotropy to the magnetic layer in addition to the above method, there is well known a method of depositing a magnetic film on a substrate so that deposition particles are incident from a certain oblique direction, that is, a so-called oblique incidence deposition method, as explained in NPL1 and NPL2. From NPL1 and NPL2, it is found that an anisotropic magnetic field Hk increases as the incident angle exceeds 30°. The magnetic anisotropy imparted by the oblique incidence deposition method is regarded as shape magnetic anisotropy since the shape of a crystal grain obliquely grown is considered as the origin of the magnetic anisotropy, as described in NPL3.
The method of imparting shape anisotropy by the oblique incidence deposition has been often used for a magnetic single-layered film as a thick film with a thickness of several-micron order used for a thin-film inductor but has not been used for manufacturing a spin valve magnetoresistive element formed by a multilayered film as a thin film with a thickness of several-nanometer order.